March 17, 2013

One of the
first movies that introduced 3D effects to a wider audience was in the prequel Alice
in Wonderland by Tim Burton. Now the people involved in that one are back again
with another take on an old fairy tale, only without Tim Burton. This time Sam
Raimi (known for the Spiderman trilogy) gets the chance to show us a beautiful
world of wonders and magic and American flags. (Just kidding, there aren’t any
flags…) Oz: The Great and Powerful shows us the journey of Oscar, a cheap trickster
and how he became the most powerful wizard in Oz.The movie
begins in black and white, with a 4:3 aspect ratio, just like in the old times.
It feels like the time stood still as an introduction of the carnival setting.
Oscar the main character is the wizard of the road show, between the strongest
man and other typical actors. He lives a low life with cheap and torn clothes,
but strives for so much more. He wants to be a great man that brings the
wonders of magic to the world in which he is quite talented. He is so good at
them that people actually believe him to make everything impossible possible.
This includes a little girl who wants nothing more than to be able to walk
again, something impossible for him to grant. The people lose their believe and
want their money back. He runs away from not only this but many other problems
that occur to him, just to find himself in a hot air balloon within an hurricane. Like in the
original Oz is that the way to get into the fairy tale world and his journey begins. The color blazes through the picture and it widens to the normal wide screen, introducing us into the world of Oz.

The world
of Oz is filled with original flowers, landscapes and animals, mostly known of
the original story. We get to see the munchkins, the winged monkeys and the
scared lion, just to name a few. The scenery is lovely and feels like a
picture, is enriched with so many details to gaze upon. A world that will amaze
you, especially in 3D as you can see in the pictures here. Don’t they look
lovely? Yes, but only if there is no motion. Whenever the camera spins around
there is only left a blurry mess of pixels, which ruins the picture. The
beginning had several scenes like that and camera rides that make you dizzy.
Bare with them, because this fault lasts mostly a few seconds and is only at
the beginning. There are some later scenes but they weren’t as intense as the ones
in the beginning. That is also the only stigma in the visual presentation,
which is otherwise great. We see many different places like big cities, dark
forests or flower beets. The design of
the characters is just as good and lively. If it is the little china girl or
the winged monkey companion, who is voiced by one of my favorite actors Zac
Braff. He gets all the laughs, which somehow annoyed some critics. I can say
that I liked them and was surprised by the amount of good laughs. The other actors
were quite splendid as well, like Mina Kunis or James Franco, who played a lot of
parts in Raimis movies. Only one of them fell flat and that was the good witch
played by Michelle Williams. Somehow she didn’t manage to show emotion, kinda
like Kristen Stewart.

The story
was a bit dragged on and seemed to lose focus around the middle. In the
beginning the world of Oz looks like a parallel world to the real one, with
people who have the same problems. A girl who can’t walk anymore and so on. I
thought it was a great way that Oz couldn’t run away anymore and finishes what
he left off, but as I stated that take part only till the middle. Then
everything is about the bad witches, which revelation didn’t surprise as the
makers hoped for. We get a bit of drama and misunderstanding, that are typically
between man and women. It results in a big fight, which doesn’t feel big or difficult
to win. The solution was a bit disappointing, because a single wrong step and
it wouldn’t work. Most of it has to do with the effect of believing, which Oz
mastered. It’s not a plot hole, but beyond normal behavior. The story goes well
with its original source and gives logical explanation, why the world of Oz
become this way after Dorothea gets there, which was well executed.

To sum things
up: Oz the Great and Powerful is a hilarious movie with beautiful pictures,
that explains well how the world of Oz becomes the way it is. It shows the
journey of a normal man behind Oz mask and why the witches want him dead. The
only bad things are the few blurred camera rides in the beginning, which could
strain some peoples eyes and the drama of the story, which never feels epic,
like the Lord of the Rings did with its big battles. The movie is for everyone
who wants to see a nice fantasy film, without shedding blood. It’s the definition
of a family movie, which will be enjoyed by parents and kids at the same time.

yes and thats explain in a short way what this movies does well, because none of your words praised the story or the acting. it's just a beautiful tech-demo what is currently possible, just for some hundred million :)